


The New Teacher

by snazzyhathowell, todorokidabi



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Teacher Ryan, i will change the tags later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-01-29 21:25:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12639477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snazzyhathowell/pseuds/snazzyhathowell, https://archiveofourown.org/users/todorokidabi/pseuds/todorokidabi
Summary: After his divorce with Sara, Shane's life turned upside down. It became a constant fight to prove to the world and to himself that he could be a great father and that he was more than capable of providing to his son, Andrew, whatever he needed. For two years, since the beginning of the trials for the custody, his whole life orbited around Andrew, his job and avoiding anxiety attacks.Falling for the new physics teacher at Goldsworth High, a certain Ryan Bergara, wasn't on Shane's plans.





	1. Aliens and Quizzes

**Author's Note:**

> I'll ask my friend to proofread this later, but I think it's okay now. I'll try to update it soon.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!! Leave a comment, kudos please it helps a lot when you're struggling to write a new chapter or thinking about abandoning the fic. 
> 
> :))

Shane parked the car in front of the school and to his horror there were already a bunch of teens leaving the building.  _Fuck_. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the time. He was late. Of all days to be late it had to be on the first day after he won the shared custody. He had fought so hard during two years of trials to keep his boy and now he felt like at any time Sara would appear out of thin air and take Andrew away again. His mind began to swirl with flashbacks of Sara telling him he wouldn’t be able to take care of their son since he didn’t even know how to take care of himself. Shane started to feel the familiar sensation of a hand clutching his heart as it began to race and the numbness beginning to spread. Before his sense of reality was affected, Shane jumped out of the car and slammed the door as if trying to keep the negative thoughts locked inside the car as he searched for his boy. It wasn’t the time for an anxiety attack.

Navigating through the sea of loud teenagers wasn’t a problem with his long legs, but looking for his son in the midst of them was next to impossible so he tried instead to look for Andrew’s friend, a tall boy named Steven. His heart kept a rapid pace and there was a slight tremor on his hands but when he spotted Steven’s unmistaken silver hair he sighed in relief.

As Shane was approaching them he noticed that Steven, who was apparently having an enthusiastic conversation with a boy he vaguely remembered was called Andy or Adam, had his arms wrapped around his son’s waist. Shane smirked, he was totally going to rub it on Sara’s face.  _Who’s the good parent now?_  He always felt like maybe they were more than just good friends. Andrew was always a quiet kid, but when Steven was around, it was like his son was a completely different person. Watching his boy resting his head on the chest of the tall boy and chuckling at whatever non sense they were discussing, warmed his heart.

Steven was the first one to see him.

“Hi, Mr. Madej!” he shouted and waved his hand like a maniac. Andrew on the other hand was frozen, he looked from Shane to Steven’s arms wrapped around his waist. He began to move but Shane just smiled and gave him a thumbs up. Andrew clearly relaxed at that and mouthed a thank you to his father before melting again in Steven’s arms.

“Hey, Steven, kiddo” Andrew rolled his eyes at the stupid nickname but he jumped into the open arms of his father. Shane hugged him tight, afraid that he would disappear. “I missed you a lot son.” his voice was strained and he tried to control the urge to cry.

“Me too, dad.” Andrew let go of him slowly. He then looked at the ground, pink coloring his cheeks, and asked “Do you think it would be okay to invite Steven to have dinner with us tomorrow?”

“Well, I don’t see why that would be a problem.” Andrew gave him one of those rare million-watt smile. “But we’ll have to talk about you two. I don’t want to pressure you but as a father I need to know certain things.”he whispered so that no one would hear them.  _Well, this is awkward._

“Why are you two blushing?” Steven asked, an eyebrow raised as he searched their faces for answers.

“Oh, for fuck sake! Not now, Steven!” Andrew barked at the other boy.

“Whatever you say honey.” he just shrugged and turned to Adam. “So as I was saying, Mr. Bergara is so cool! He’s the new physics teacher, but he’s really young and he did an alien’s facts pop quiz on our class. Can you believe that?”

Shane was about to ask if Andrew was ready to go when he heard the words ‘alien’, ‘teacher’ and ‘class’ on the same sentence. He shook his head, there was no way he heard it right. “Steven, my boy, care to repeat what you just said?”

Steven Lim, a genuine sweetheart, smiling like his words carried no real danger said “You see, Mr. Madej, our new teacher is super cool. Today, he was wearing a shirt of an old tv series about aliens and all that stuff, and a this girl, Jen, asked him if he believed in extraterrestrial beings… Things escalated quickly and the whole class was about aliens and theories.”

“We even had a  _great_ debate between skeptics and believers, dad.” Andrew’s voice dripping with sarcasm. “Don’t worry, I know it’s all bullshit.”

“That’s my kid” he laughed. “Bergara, right? Wait here, I’m going to have a talk with this new teacher.” As he turned his back to the boys he could practically hear Andrew’s eyes rolling and Steven’s barely contained laugh.

Shane couldn’t believe that a teacher decided that it was proper to start babbling about lizard people and crazy people abduction’s stories at a fucking school. This guy was shaping the bright minds of the future and instead of showing the kids how amazing science can be, he was teaching them how to become professional ghosthunters for fuck sake. Not that he hated people who believed in aliens and ghosts or that he considered them to be stupid or crazy, but the school was not the place to discuss that horseshit.

He was wandering through the empty corridors of the school mumbling how he was going to show that new professor what’s real science when he heard a voice calling from behind. Shane turned quickly and almost fell when he noticed the cute asian guy standing by the lockers and staring at him like he grew a second head.

“Hm… Hi.” the man’s voice was unsure. “Can I help you in any way, sir?” Shane’s mind was blank.  _Hell yeah, you can go on a date with me Mr. Big Arms._  Shane shook his head trying to make the inappropriate thoughts go away. “So, I can’t help you?”

_Fuck_

“No” Shane began to approach him and he had to hold his breath because that man was fucking beautiful. And also pretty small. “Sorry, I’m Shane Madej.”

The man chuckled and extended his hand which Shane quickly accepted. “I’m Ryan Bergara. I think your kid is my student.”

Kill Bill’s sirens began to sound on Shane’s head and he quickly retracted his hand causing the other man to arch en eyebrow. “You are the alien believer!”

Ryan was now more defensive as he pointed to his X-files tee. “Well, yeah. They are real!” he wheeze, and if that wasn’t adorable then Shane didn’t know what adorable meant.

“No fucking way! You’re not teaching my kid all this alien crap. There might be aliens, but they’re just like a bacteria or something like that. Aren’t you supposed to be teaching formulas and stuff?”

“That’s such a boring view about extraterrestrial creatures ” Ryan snorted. “Next, you’re going to tell me you don’t believe in ghost, Mr. Madej.”

“Oh no! I thought I was just exaggerating things in my head, but you are insane!” he laughed. “You’re teaching the kids about ghouls on the next class? Will you make a seminar on bigfoot?”

“If I decide to do a seminar on the sasquatch I might as well invite you, since you are fine specimen of bigfoot.” he said between little giggles. “As much as I’d like to keep this discussion I have to go now. I have to correct the answers of the alien quiz I did today.” with that he turned around and strode off.

Shane would be lying if he said wasn’t mesmerized by the swing of the other man’s hips. And those tight jeans were the definition of sin on his dictionary. Shane sighed. “I’m fucked.”

He quickly left the school building and found Andrew alone waiting by the car while texting someone on his phone. Andrew looked up with curiosity as he noticed how perturbed his father was. Without saying a word they entered in the car. Only after a couple of minutes in an awkward silence, Andrew decided to speak.

“How was your talk with Mr. Bergara? Did you give him hell?”

“His a tiny prick. That’s what he is. A tiny and very cute prick who has no clue about the impact of his actions. Heads up kiddo, next class will be about ghouls and demons.” he rolled his eyes. “I need you to give him a taste of what hell is like. Show him no mercy, ask questions, bring videos of his ‘proof’ being debunked. I trust you to follow your Madej instincts.”

“So, you already got a crush on my new teacher?”

“What? No.” Shane’s mind was singing ‘don’t be suspicious’ on a loop. “Where did you get this idea?” his hands were all sweaty but his grip on the steering wheel was like iron.

“You confessed that you think he’s cute.” Andrew was smirking. “I’m just exposing the facts, I’m a Madej.”

“I taught you so well, you little shit.” Shane was laughing “But I’m not talking about that with you.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s nothing to talk about in the first place. Your new teacher is cute”  _and a tease, and sexy and full of shit._  “That’s all. However, if you are so keen on talking about relationships, how about you tell me about you and Steven?”

“Ugh, dad!” Andrew put on his headphones and Shane just laughed. It was good to have his kid back.


	2. See ya, stalker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> READ THE NOTE AT THE END

Shane watched as Andrew made his way through his second bowl of cereal with milk.  _ Only kids like that, my ass!  _ He was beaming. It just felt so right to sit by his son’s side and enjoy a nice breakfast before leaving for work. Unfortunately, the familiarity of it brought back memories that he wish would’ve stayed buried on the depths of  his mind. 

 

He and Sara used to make pancakes of the new characters of Disney that they had been working on at the studio and Andrew would happily munch at them after pointing out mistakes in anatomy or color. The first time he did it, they were so surprised that they thought they had hurt his feelings and perhaps shut down their child, but the next time they tried to subtly make him comment it worked out fine. It should’ve been expected, after all, he was their kid and art was always a big part of their lives so it obviously would attract little Andrew. Shane remembered when they had just adopted Andrew, they were trying to figure out how to make the small 8 year-old interact with them so Sara suggested painting palm trees’ leaves on the living room wall and Andrew sat on the flower and started to make small coconuts. Even though it was sort of painful to revisit the memories, he would always have a fond smile as the mental image of a smaller Andrew with his brows furrowed as he mixed the colors to get the perfect green popped in his mind.

 

He sighed. 

 

There was no use trying to hold back those memories. Watching Andrew eating his cereal while simultaneously trying to tweet just reminded him other mornings. After Andrew’s second day in high school, he wouldn’t shut up during breakfast about the art class and how the other students loved his style and of course, it was when he met the transfer student from Malaysia, Steven Lim, who even asked to keep one of his drawings.

 

“Dad, are you in there?” Andrew was waving a hand in front of him. “Earth to dad!”

 

Shane gave him a tiny nod and went back to staring at his now cold pancakes and coffee. Andrew’s voice was weak when he asked. “Are you thinking about mom again? It’s just that you have that look…”

 

This time Shane actually made an effort and fought back the urge to hide his emotions from the world. “I… No. Not really. Not now.” he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I wasn’t thinking about her per se and I’m definitely not in love with her anymore, kiddo. I know you might think that I am..”

 

“It’s not that dad…” Shane made a gesture to stop him.

 

“It’s just hard to sort of filter my memories. Most of my happy memories with or without you are full of your mom’s presence and it’s tough to get over the fact that I was the happiest when we were together, probably the happiest I’ll ever be. I don’t think I can find someone that will make me feel like that again.” Andrew was looking at him with a concerned expression. “No! It’s not that I am unhappy. I mean, I have you! Andrew, you are the one thing in life that matters, the one thing that makes me wake up in the morning and actually thank god that I’m alive. For you being the way that you are, I’ll forever be grateful. I still can’t believe you chose us, that you chose me.”

 

“Dad, cut the sentimental crap!” he shouted, but he was visibly taken aback by his dad’s declaration. “You’ll find someone better for you, someone that deserves you. You and mom were okay, but okay doesn’t mean  _ right _ , you get it?”

 

“So…” Shane didn’t want to discuss this any further, so he did what he was good at. He changed the focus of the conversation and with a teasing smile playing on his lips he continued. “Are you and Steven  _ right _ , right?”

 

“Ugh, you are insufferable!” he snapped as he got up and stormed off to his room, leaving a very amused Shane and his very dirty bowl to be cleaned. As Shane washed the bowl he allowed himself to wonder if maybe his son was right.  _ What if there is someone waiting for me? Nah, that’s bullshit. _

 

XxXxXxXxX

 

“Have a great day, kiddo!” Shane handed Andrew his backpack and leaned on the side of the car. “Remember to give that Bergara dude hell.”

 

Andrew rolled his eyes and managed to give his dad a nod before turning around and going in the direction of Steven, who waved at Shane with as much energy as puppy. He watched them holding hands and disappearing inside the school building. It was the perfect image to have in his mind before jumping inside his car and going back to his eight hour shift at the Disney Studio where he would be trying keep sanity as he worked on a new animation project. But life had other plans. As he was about to turn away he noticed a cool Jeep pulling over at the teacher’s parking lot. Shane gritted his teeth as he saw the small guy hopping off the car.

 

Begara noticed him and as he walked in the direction of the school staring at Shane the whole time in what was supposed to be a menacing way. The staring match didn’t last much since when Ryan was about to climb the stairs to the building he tripped on his own foot and fell. Shane’s laughed was the only thing heard on the area. The other man quickly got up and stuck his middle finger to Shane which would’ve been offensive if he wasn’t blushing like a small kid. Shane chuckled again when he heard the main door of school being slammed.

 

“What a lovely day.” he said between giggles. 

 

When Shane arrived at the studio there was, indeed, a pile of things to be done, but he was on such a big mood that he actually started to whistle some Disney songs. He turned his computer on and started to work on the animation, trying to make everything in sync and all the transitions smooth to facilitate the job of the Keith, the dude responsible for checking his progress and corrected small details.

 

The morning passed really fast. So fast Shane didn’t notice it was time to have his lunch break and got startled when Eugene touched his shoulder. 

 

“Jesus, Madej. It’s break time. Stop working.” 

 

Shane got up from his chair and stretched his body, lazily. He pocketed his phone and wallet and was about to leave when he decided to go back and take his sketchbook too. Today he was feeling creative. He decided to go to the Subway near the studio where he wouldn’t have to socialize with his co-workers and where people wouldn’t be asking questions about his doodles. 

 

The place was almost empty, there was only a family of tourists with their ridiculously big Mickey Mouse Ears hats and faces full of sunscreen. Shane ordered a sandwich and chose a more reserved booth. He settled the sketchbook on the table and picked his favorite pencil, which was really small and was completely dented from falls and nervous teeth biting into it.

 

He gave a tentative bite on the sandwich and moaned slightly as he tasted the unique artificial flavors that only a fast-food chain restaurant could have. No wonder everyone called him a raccoon, he’d consider almost any food delicious. Or at least edible.

 

Shane started to sketch and after eating half of the food and finishing the face he realized he had drawn the fucking crazy teacher.  _ Ryan Bergara. _ He ripped the page off and crunched the paper.  _ Why would he draw that guy?  _ He decided to keep the drawing though. It was fine art. So he got the little ball of paper and placed it on his jacket’s pocket. 

 

There was still some time left before he had to go back to work, so he decided to get a nice ice cream cone. Shane bought one with two flavors ,vanilla and cookie though, of Mr. Tinsley a cool older guy that used to work as a detective or something like that in the 70s. Since it wasn’t a hot day, but the sun wouldn’t help the case of his ice cream, he found a nice bench underneath a tree. 

 

He got his phone out and began to browse through Instagram. Then he stopped at a new photo of Steven. In the photo Steven was wearing a tinfoil hat, which wasn’t something so unusual, but the caption of the picture was the problem.

 

“What the fuck!” Shane perked up on the bench and gripped the ice cream cone harder. “‘@ryanbergara lended his cool hat to me, best teacher ever :)’” 

 

It was impossible to ignore the urge to click on the username. In fact, Shane didn’t even try to hold back. He was bombarded by a series of photos of a Mr. Bergara at Disney and Universal Studios, puppies, Lakers and mirror selfies. He sucked in a breath.  _ If the dude wasn’t bat shit crazy he would totally be my type. _ His bisexual senses were tingling so he decided to close the app.  _ Nope _ . 

 

_ I wonder if he has a twitter account? Maybe I could fight him. _ Shane clicked on the blue icon on his screen and typed bergara and there it was a @ryansbergara. Shane had a devilish smile as he analised the profile. The fucking profile picture was a photo of him wearing a tinfoil hat and his header was a screenshot of the X-files opening. Not surprising at all but that made Shane itchy to annoy the guy. That was practically begging to receive some of the old skeptic treatment that his family perfect through the generations. 

 

**Shane Madej - @shalexandej   01:39 PM**

_ @ryansbergara hey dude nice hat. going to teach the kids how to do one… oh wait you already did! _

 

He watched as a notification pop-up appeared on his screen only a few minutes later.

 

**Ryan Bergara - @ryansbergara  01:42 PM**

_ @shalexandej ha ha ha very funny stalker, i didnt teach them that!! i talked about how it is useless and actually applied some scientific concepts [GIF] _

 

**Shane Madej - @shalexandej   01:43 PM**

_ @ryansbergara THANK GOD YOU DID THAT but i’ll have you know that i instructed my kid to make your life hell _

 

**Ryan Bergara - @ryansbergara  01:45 PM**

_ @shalexandej oh really? Cause he actually helped in class _

 

**Shane Madej - @shalexandej   01:45 PM**

_ @ryansbergara [GIF] NOOOOOO NOT MY KID BERGARA YOU ARE A CULT LEADER _

 

**Ryan Bergara - @ryansbergara  01:46 PM**

_ @shalexandej hahahahahhahahsahs maybe ;) _

 

**Ryan Bergara - @ryansbergara  01:46 PM**

_ @shalexandej i have to go prepare for my next class, see ya stalker [GIF] _

  
Shane was about to reply when he receiver another type of notification. Ryan had just followed him.  _ Well Bergara, this might be your downfall.  _ He clicked on the follow button and he unconsciously knew how big of mistake that decision was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, sorry for not updating the chapter when I promised. Life was kinda of crazy and college was hell. Also, I'm not really satisfied with this chapter because I had wrote it during one my classes but I lost the paper (me a dumbass)
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy and I won't make promises for the next chapter (maybe by the beginning of December...)
> 
> AHHHHHHHHH  
> did you guys know that you can actually fall in love with someone in less the five seconds??


	3. Bathroom Excuses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh
> 
> Sorry it took me so long to post the new chapter. I didn't know what to do with the fic (I blame the new Star Wars movie and the WiFi at my beach house), but I think I found my way again!
> 
> Hope you enjoy.
> 
> Leave a comment if you have some constructive criticism or a nice comment!

Two months passed really fast and Shane got into a new routine. One that he actually enjoyed. Apart from having to give his son up two weeks a month, he was actually quite content. He would wake up earlier than what he used to, just so that he could have breakfast with his kid, generally milk and cereal because it was the fastest option and they were both lazy suckers. Then Shane would drop Andrew at school, go to work, banter with Ryan Bergara on Twitter and sometimes prepare a nice meal for Andrew and his boyfriend Steven. Yeah, somehow the new teacher became a part of his life, whether it was a conscious or unconscious decision of his. Usually at the lunch break he would find himself engaging of multiple discussions with Bergara about aliens, ghosts, movies and one time they even had a passionate debate about popcorn. 

 

After one week of smiling like a teen after he received a new notification of  _ @ryansbergara _ , he was forced to admit that there was more than simply bantering going on. Their fights didn’t feel real, or maybe they never were. When he took Andrew to school or went to pick him up he would wait to see Bergara arrive and then would tease him on twitter about how he looked ridiculous with his weird love for yellow clothes, especially one vest that he wore a lot. Ryan would always reply with a “stalker :)” and Shane would grin from ear to ear.

 

Now, he found it kind of hard to look at the man, that being the reason why he adopted the method of avoiding at all costs to get out the car near school grounds. Andrew reacted to this novelty with curiosity at first but now all he did was smirk when he got to the car, always making sure to mention the damn teacher. But although he wanted to avoid Bergara he couldn’t help but show up at the exact time he knew the teacher was about to arrive at school. He didn’t want to confront his feelings, but hey, he could still appreciate a nice body, with a great face, fantastic humor, amazing knowledge, sweet eyes... Ryan Bergara was the closest thing, for Shane, to proof of the existence of supernatural beings. Of course, he had flaws, Shane knew there was no such thing as perfection, but that man was pretty damn close to it. 

 

But today was saturday.

 

Meaning no Bergara and no need to confront what was going on between them. The only thing planned for the day was a draft of a new cartoon he had to present for his superior on Monday and a dinner at the new restaurant that opened near his apartment. He was going to take Andrew and Steven and they were going to order enough food to make themselves ashamed on the next day. 

 

_ A great plan _ . He had a cocky smile in place as he skimmed through the newspaper. 

 

“Why are you smiling like that?” he looked up to find a very sleepy Andrew exiting his room. “It’s kinda creepy since you’re reading the Sports” the boy then rubbed his eyes.

 

Shane rolled his eyes. “Keep that attitude young boy and you won’t be having any pancakes today”

 

Andrew frowned. “You wouldn’t dare…” then his dad wiggled one eyebrow. “YOU WOULD! YOU SICK BASTARD!”  _ Such a drama queen… I taught him so well  _  Shane smiled fondly as his son threw his hands in the air as he grunted on his way to the kitchen.

 

Shane got up quickly and took over his position on the stove. Andrew had already set up the table and was now resting his face on his hands as he watched his dad. Shane prepared the dough and after a few minutes, full of flips and a lot of cursing, the pancakes were ready.  Before placing them on the table he turned to Andrew.“Want me to cut them on Disney characters shapes?”

 

“What is the point of eating pancakes if they are not Disney themed pancakes?” he raised an eyebrow. 

 

Shane had to blink a few times because he wasn’t seeing big grown up Andrew, there, right in front of him, was little Andrew with chubby cheeks and small hands. He quickly turned and focused on the task of cutting the pancakes into various shapes to make Andrew’s new favorite character from ‘Disney’. The sound of nervous fingers tapping on a screen and the rhythmically sound of the knife hitting the board helped Shane concentrate and suppress the treacherous tears. It was hard to get around the idea of Andrew no longer being his little boy.  _ I’m becoming one of those dads.  _

 

Soon he placed an almost perfect, considering that it was made with pancake, BB-8 right in front of his son. Andrew gasped and stared at the plate he like used to do when he was a kid. “I was going to do a Kylo Ren. But since you are probably going to post it on Instagram, and I know you are not ready to share your obsession with Kylo, I thought it was better to play it safe. A good ol’ bot for ya.”

 

Andrew reached over the table and hugged his dad. “You are the best”. He snapped a photo and munched on his BB unit quite happily. Shane just ate his regular stacked pancakes but his heart was so warn that he felt like they were made of pure gold.

 

They ate in silence and after breakfast Andrew washed the dishes and left to meet Steven and head out to Matt’s place. Some other friends were going to be there as well, their friend Adam, Ashley and a girl called Jen. Apparently they were going to have a Harry Potter marathon and survive out of popcorn the whole day. They were living the dream. Shane tried to tag along and Andrew said that even though he was cool there was no chance he was going since he had a project to begin.  _ Boo hoo adult life sucks.  _

 

Shane got all his stuff and found a comfortable spot on their dining table. Put on his ‘Thinking Cap ON” playlist and started to take notes of some ideas he had on the past few days. But as he jotted them down he felt like they weren’t exactly very creative or even original. No one would ever bother to invest on a cartoon like that. So he decided to start by designing the main character. It wasn’t how he normally worked but he had a deadline and he needed to present something to his boss. Anything. He opened his memos and found some notes from the briefing he had had last week about the new cartoon. The notes were kind of confusing but at least he managed to get some of the things his boss wanted. 

 

“Supernatural. Two main characters. Diversity. Funny. Not too scary. A bit of sarcasm.” Shane wanted to throw his phone on the street so a car could smash it. “I’m so fucked right now.”

 

The hours flew by like minutes and he only had the sketches of the main characters done. He opted for two girls. One was blond with a big nose and thick glasses. He decided that she was going to be a bucket full of sarcasm and bad jokes. The other one was smaller, a mix of Asia and Latin America on her features. He didn’t know what to do with her. He stared at the page in front of him and tried to see what was behind those big beady eyes he drew. Maybe she was going to be more like a sidekick, always scared and hiding. Shane was about to to write that, but something stopped him. That wasn’t right. There was more to those characters and without a plot he couldn’t fully comprehend them. Especially the tiny girl. Shane shut the sketch book and decided to prepare his lunch.

 

After having lunch, Shane did no progress at all. All he had was two sketched and barely filled profile about the characters. He had longed abandoned the notion of having a plot or even having ideas for one. So until Andrew and Steven called for him to go pick them up, all he did was complain, play Disney Crossy Road and watch old episodes of Brooklyn Nine Nine on TV. Their call would be a true blessing. He would finally be free of his responsibility and be able to go out and enjoy his weekend. Or at least his saturday night since he needed the damn project ready.

 

Then as if by magic his phone screen lit up. Shane turned his attention from the TV to the now vibrating phone. It wasn’t a phone call but a series of text messages from Andrew asking his dad if it was ok to pick them up an hour earlier and that he didn’t want to disturb him now that he was focused on a new project. Shane replied quickly with ‘im already on the car’ and a ‘FREEDOM’ followed by a series of gifs to illustrate his state of mind. He got up, collected the car keys and soon he was driving on his way to Matt’s house. 

 

The traffic wasn’t that bad so he managed to arrive in less than 15 minutes at the fancy neighborhood that Andrew’s friend lived. The house was at the end of Capt. Hugo Vega Street, it was a huge modern mansion that even had some bushes cut in the shape of animals. There was a fucking crab and a flamingo, for fucks sake. Shane pulled over in front of the house and was about to honk when he saw that Andrew was waiting outside. He waved at him and watched as he began to tow Steven by his hand. Andrew sat by his side while Steven took the backseat. Shane watched through the mirror Steven laying down on the seat and chuckled. “So how wa...”

 

“Dad please drive!” Andrew interrupted him. “If we stay here longer I might have to go inside and kill Matt with my bare hands. Do you want me to go to jail?!” he looked exhausted.

 

“Let me guess.”

 

“You wouldn’t be able…”

 

“Matt’s idea of eating solemnly popcorn was a disaster and you had to deal with a very hungry Steven Lim complaining.” Andrew gasped and stared at him with wide eyes. “I had to travel with you two to a festival when you were little and I know some things don’t change.” with that he drove to the restaurant as fast as he was allowed to.

 

Steven practically ran inside the place when he smelled the aroma of hot meals being served. They checked their reservation and, thank god, got a great table. Soon a waiter with a fake smile kept on for pure obligation asked for their orders. Eyeing the kids barely keeping it together, staring at the basket of bread as if it was some sort of rare item, Shane picked up the menu and ordered an absurd amount of food. Lots of chicken wings dipped on spicy sauce, french fries with olive oil and herbs, one small pepperoni pizza, medium portion of quesadilla and a basket with a mix of different nacho flavors.  _ It will do.  _ When he finished listing almost all of the items on the menu one very scared,  _ or maybe impressed,  _ waiter left to go deliver his order to the kitchen.

 

“Food will get here soon, kids, don’t worry.” he looked at them reassuringly. 

 

Steven looked up and his tired expression was replaced by a huge smile, which left Shane feeling pretty smug. He was capable of making those kids feel the joy of life again. Then he noticed Steven poking Andrew on the forehead, which only made the other one glare at him. But it was all he need, pointing at something behind them he whispered something for Andrew. Andrew perked up on his seat and managed a small smile when he saw whatever Steven asked him to look. Shane couldn’t hear what they were saying so he turned to look for whatever got them all so happy.  _ You gotta be fucking kidding me. _

 

“You gotta be fucking kidding me.” Ryan Bergara was there at the hall gesticulating like a maniac while talking with the maître. Shane of course still felt the urge to fight Bergara, but watching the other man arguing with someone, that wasn’t him, made some weird protection instinct kick in. It was almost like it was his duty to protect Ryan Bergara from all evil in the world.  _ I’m so pathetic.  _

 

Deciding to ignore the situation was the best option for him, so he turned to look at the boys and noticed that Andrew wasn’t at his place anymore. Steven just shrugged and nodded his head in the direction of the teacher.  _ I raised a snake.  _ Shane thought bitterly as he watched Andrew talking with his teacher at the hall. Bergara was blushing and Andrew looked at him with one of his, perfected through the years, puppy eyes look and Shane rolled his eyes. Surely he was inviting Bergara to sit with them. There was one spare chair and Shane considered throwing it across the room for a second or maybe throwing himself across the room. Lost on his thoughts and still watching the chair squinting his eyes, Shane didn’t notice when Andrew got back to the table with the teacher. 

 

“Hi, Shane… I mean Mr. Madej.” Bergara was blushing and stuttering and all of his previous thoughts of destroying the chair vanished.  _ Boy, he was a handsome man.  _

 

“Hi. You can call me Shane Madej.”  _ Stupid mouth.  _ “I mean, Shane. Call me Shane” Shane got up awkwardly, bumping on the table and almost knocking down everything. He shaked Bergara’s extended hand vigorously. Then Shane helped Ryan sit, which obviously made things worse. Internally he was a mess, an eternal replay on his mind of Gordon Ramsay calling him an idiot sandwich. 

 

Steven and Andrew were sat on VIP places to watch the show unroll in front of them. They kept snickering and whispering thing to each other, which left Shane no option but to make small talk with Ryan Fucking Bergara as they waited for the food. When the meal arrived he kicked Andrew on his shins and got the boys to talk with the teacher, who seemed to relax and appreciate better his meal.

 

After they ordered the dessert and were waiting for it to arrive, Shane noticed Andrew leaning in on Steven’s direction to whisper something then he got up abruptly and announced he was going to the bathroom. But before he left he winked to his dad, and Shane knew this was no teenage hook-up-on-the-bathroom plan. No. It was a masterplan to leave him alone with Begara. And his suspicions were soon confirmed when Steven giving him an apologetic smile left to go to the bathroom too.

 

When they left Ryan began to laugh which caused Shane to look at him with an arched eyebrow. “What?” he managed between giggles. “It’s just that no matter how many years have passed teenagers will always try the bathroom excuse to go make out.”

 

“Yeah. The ol’ bathroom excuse to make out” he said through gritted teeth.

 

“They even try that at school!” Ryan wheezed. “I just look at them with one raised eyebrow and say ‘really? I’ll tell you kid, I invented this excuse. Go back to your work’.” 

 

Shane’s annoyance left just as soon as it arrived. He looked at Ryan with glinting eyes and in a malicious tone asked. “You’re telling me, you skipped class to make out with girls in the bathroom, Bergara? The shame”

 

Ryan gulped and stared at Shane mortified. And stuttering a bit he managed to spit out the words. “I-I supp-suppose at the time they were girls.” he sipped his cranberry lemonade and eyeing Shane by the corner of his eye said in a much clearer voice. “You can call me Ryan, you know.”

 

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed. It’s rude.” Shane’s heart was beating so fast that he felt like it was going to escape his chest. “Considering that people always assume I’m heterosexual or just deny my bisexuality, I should’ve known better.” he didn’t want to look at the man sat by his side. He knew the look of disgust people generally had on their faces when he admitted his sexuality.

 

“Bisexual? That’s nice.” Ryan’s voice was so sweet that Shane had to look up. He was looking at him with those gleaming eyes and soft mouth curved into a beautiful smile. Shane smiled back.

 

“I guess it is.” 

 

Ryan sipped his drink again. Coughed a few times then turned to Shane. “So, Andrew was telling me some other day after class, that you work at Disney?” then after stealing one of his fries added. “Your son really loves you, he’s always talking about you.”

 

“Yeah, I do. I work at the animations studio.” he was torn between hugging Andrew and cutting his allowance.  _ He’s basically selling me to his teacher as if I’m a cow. _

 

“That’s so cool! I love Disney!” he now was turning his whole body on Shane’s direction. “You see, I have this friend, Helen, and we go every year to Disney together. It was where our friendship sort of began.”

 

“That’s really sweet. I, too, love Disney. Otherwise I wouldn’t work for them.” he also tuned his body. Their legs were touching. 

 

Ryan looked at their legs, coughed a bit and blushing continued to make small talk. “Yeah, you don’t strike me as the type of man who would work at a place you hated.” his eyes followed Shane’s movements as he sipped on his green tea. Ryan shook his head. “Hmm… Working on any new projects? The new Moana maybe?”

 

Shane didn’t listen the question since he was too focused on studying those full lips moving. Quickly, he reached for his tea. When he noticed Ryan waiting for something, he apologized and asked him to repeat the question. Questions about his new projects always got him excited. He would feel like a secret agent when he asked for secrecy and judging by Ryan’s expression, he was probably into it. Shane and Ryan leaned on the direction of each other, and Ryan’s legs were now between Shane’s. They were whispering but sometimes, one of them would laugh too loud (Ryan) and other would smile like a stupid RomCom guy (Shane).

 

The kids got back to the table at some point, but the two of them barely acknowledged them. Their desserts were left untouched in front of their places. Shane had to admit that maybe Ryan had some great ideas. Well, and some not so great. “What if they are like the ghostbusters?! But they hunt sea creatures instead of ghosts.”

 

“Are you insane?” The boys would chuckle and Shane would just keep shooting questions at Ryan.

 

“You said you wanted two girls, right? What about two girls that investigate allegedly haunted locations around the world. The skeptic one could be a ghost that came back to have some fun at the cost of the other girl. Always pulling pranks and ordering other spirits to scare the believer who is obsessed with finding proof of ghosts existence.” 

 

“Ryan Bergara, you are basically telling me to make a genderbent version of yourself.” Shane chuckled.

 

“Shut up, Shane. There’s more” he rolled his eyes. “The skeptic girl liked to scare the other girl at the beginning. But then they started to go to more dangerous places and she began to protect her and grew fond of the tiny scared, yet brave sometimes, human. I’m not saying there needs to be a romantic relationship, since they are teens, but they can be really good friends.”

 

“I like this. A lot. Even the romantic part.” then smirking a bit he added. “Now it definitely doesn’t seem like you are trying to be the smaller girl.”

 

“Well, for me it does sound like genderbent fanfiction of you two” Steven mumbled to Andrew

 

“What did you say, Steven?” Shane nervously asked as he eyed Ryan.  _ I guess he didn’t hear it. But he’s blushing a bit. _

 

“Nothing.” Andrew replied while glaring daggers at his sleepy boyfriend. “He just ate too much cake.”

 

“I guess we should be going.” Shane said as he started to look for the waiter to ask for their check. 

 

“Yeah, it’s probably better. I need to take the bus home. We need to see how much I…” Ryan began but was cut off by Shane.

 

“No need. This dinner is on me. Would like a ride home?” Bergara shook his head. “Then I guess you should be going.” Shane added a bit off.

 

Ryan got up and said his goodbyes. Shane watched him walking out of the restaurant and something ached on his chest. He left his credit card for Andrew. “Meet me outside kiddo”. Just after he got out of the restaurant there was no sign of the man nearby, then Shane saw a small bus stop in the distance and a small figure walking in the direction of it. Shane ran.

 

The bus stop was close when he felt a hand touching his shoulder which startled him “Fuck, sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.” a familiar voice made him relax and Ryan turned to stare at its owner. 

 

“Hi. Again.”

 

“Yeah, I could’ve asked you on twitter, but I guess my brain thought it was a better idea to ran after you in the dark.” Shane was rambling. “And you have no clue of what I’m talking about and…” a small hand slapped his arm and Shane looked at Ryan half surprised and half in pain. “What…” 

 

“Just spit it out, Shane”

 

He looked at Ryan and gaining back his non-justified confidence ‘spat it out’. “I was wondering if you you would like to meet me tomorrow at a coffee shop. It’s a small place, very intimate. We talk about my new cartoon and maybe other stuff.”  _ I can’t believe I’m asking my son’s teacher on a date. _

 

“Like a date?” Ryan’s voice was hopeful.

 

“No”  _ Yes.  _ “I mean, maybe.”

 

Ryan smirked and added before making a signal for the bus approaching the stop. “Then DM me the details for our date of Schrodinger, Madej”

**Author's Note:**

> Check my tumblr or my twitter if you want to discuss the fanfic, make suggestions or BOOO at me
> 
> buzzfeedwheeze.tumblr.com
> 
> @shoutotodorok


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